Design

Resource-efficient businesses have become increasingly important for companies in recent years. Although this brings new potentials, the practical implementation in the form of suitable business models is accompanied by challenges. In this paper, we will examine which concepts and methods already exist for the development of circular and resource- efficient business models and show approaches and solutions from science and practice using the example of interdisciplinary research projects.

How can organisations successfully participate in interoperable and decentralised data ecosystems? To answer this question, this paper presents a process model using the transport logistics industry as an example, which methodically describes the collaborative and interdisciplinary development of services in the decentralised federated data ecosystem Gaia-X [6]. The model supports evaluation and decision-making processes within the development of decentralised data ecosystems in practice and helps IT decision-makers and participating stakeholders to identify the relevant communication flows in a use case. It can be used independently for specific use cases, data spaces and connector technologies and ensures that the communication and alignment of individual development statuses in a decentrally organised framework is comprehensible and understandable for the overall context.

Additive manufacturing, i.e. the printing of three- dimensional workpieces from different materials, offers the possibility of quickly producing functional prototypes. Digital optimisation is an important building block for the rapid implementation of functional product ideas. Based on digital models, the product is virtually optimised and continuously improved. Once the product has been digitally optimised in terms of its properties, it is checked and, if necessary, adapted for additive manufacturing. The product is then manufactured, reworked and finally tested. The article shows the optimisation possibilities using the example of a dispenser from the food industry. An existing component is digitised, a flow optimisation is carried out on the digital model and the improved product is additively manufactured.

The food sector is facing many challenges, including food loss and waste. To cope with those challenges, digital twins that create a digital representation of physical entities by integrating real-time and real- world data seems to be a promising approach. This article presents the results of a literature review on digital twin applications in the food industry and analyze their challenges and potentials.

Industrial robots are being used increasingly in machining processes. Here, the robots exhibit a significantly higher displacement of the end effector than conventional CNC machines due to their comparable low stiffness. This paper presents an approach to minimize such displacements of the tool by exploiting the rotational degrees of freedom at the milling spindle. For this purpose, the displacement of the end effector at different orientations of the milling spindle was investigated by means of a structural model.

In the first article, the reference model was already explained in its essential features [1]. In the second part, the further development to a flexible reference model will be shown. The focus is on the extension to implement different source systems, the implementation of further planning tools, and the implementation of AI tools to achieve dynamic production engineering in the form of holistic and integrated factory planning. This paper explains the development of a holistic demonstrator as a proof of concept.